418 A Century of Science 



is not the only form assumed by wealth-seeking 

 crankery. In 1861 a Captain Roblin, of Nor- 

 mandy, having ascertained to his own satisfaction, 

 from the prolonged study of the zodiac of Dende- 

 rah, the sites of sundry gold-mines, came forward 

 with proposals for a joint stock company to dig 

 and be rich. The labours of Herr Johannes von 

 Gumpach were of a more philanthropic turn. He 

 published in 1861 a pamphlet entitled "A Mil- 

 lion's Worth of Property and Five Hundred Lives 

 annually lost at Sea by the Theory of Gravitation. 

 A Letter on the True Figure of the Earth, ad- 

 dressed to the Astronomer Royal." Next year 

 this pamphlet grew into a stout volume. It main- 

 tained that a great many shipwrecks were occa- 

 sioned by errors of navigation due to an erroneous 

 conception of the shape of the earth. Since New- 

 ton's time, it has been supposed to be flattened at 

 the poles, whereas the amiable Gumpach calls upon 

 his fellow-creatures to take notice that it is elon- 

 gated, and to mend their ways accordingly. 



The desire to prove great men wrong is one of 

 the crank's most frequent and powerful incentives. 

 The name of Newton is the greatest in the history 

 of science : how flattering to one's self it must be, 

 then, to prove him a fool ! In eccentric literature 

 the books against Newton are legion. Here is a 



